[bct] Re: weight control and loss.

From: "Jeff Armstrong" <jeffarmstrong1380@xxxxxxxxx>

To: <blindcooltech@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2006 21:20:53 -0600

Slythy,
Don't you suppose that by severely limiting your caloric income you might
be sending your body into a, self-protective mode, as would make sense in a
time of fammon? And, yes, after medical disorders and medications are
considered, it almost seems as one is left with trail and error as a dieting,
or weight loss program. A lady I know suffers from something called "bardet
biedl's" which is known to present itself with extreme weight gain specifically
around the middle of the body. Perhaps the body is able to block the expending
of it's fat stores in certain situations, and instead, takes it's energy from
slowing down some of it's processes along with other adaptive measures that may
have meant the difference between life and death in earlier times. By my
definition of the term, testing, the thrifty gene has been proven to exist, and
I do cite the study of the Pima people of North America.
Jeff Armstrong
----- Original Message -----
From: Slythy_Tove
To: blindcooltech@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2006 6:01 PM
Subject: [bct] Re: weight control and loss.
There is also the issue of genetics and syndromes such as Syndrome X, which I
have, which predisposes me to overweight and insulin resistance.
After about a month of calorie deficiting and exercise my cripped up body
will tolerate, my weight is down by a total of 5 pounds. That seems impossible
when one is eating no more than 1200 calories a day and never more than 45
grams of carbohydrates, max - usually around 20 or 25.
So, the question is what combination of of things will help. It may well
depend upon genetics and health issues as well as medication being taken in
addition to exercise. A bariatric physician I saw said you'd have exercise all
the time to get weight loss from it - one must significantly calorie deficit.
In some cases people do require surgery. I had a friend who had a
superdigestive gut that could turn a prune pit into a food (happened by
accident once). She ended up being one of the first G.I.B. patients in the
U.S. because her extreme weight was crushing her spine. I have not seen or
heard from her in many years, but others I knew with extreme weight problems
have similar issues going on.
We know various medications cause people to gain weight - like steriods, some
anti-depressants and some diabetic medications. One must balance the harms and
benefits. Die of asthma over the short term or have complications from
steroids over the long term. Or try homeopathic remedies and see if they help.
So, what to do for weight loss? I suspect most people would agree with the
following:
Nix all the snack foods like chips and twinkies and sugared sodas.
Nutritionists are starting to recommend avoiding fruit juices (and they are
right, since they are very high in sugars) because kids who drink a lot of
juice tend to get fat.
Things that people will argue are below.
I barely touch gr ain products because they give me raging blood sugars and
really are not good for anyone, although the are certainly a better resource
than starving to death. You see the most obesity in people without access to
protein sources and who rely upon grain products and highly processed products.
Fat gives on a feeling of fullness. While no one recommends consuming vast
quantities of it - it would make you sick to your stomach unless you are a
circumpolar person - the bottom line is that a steak with fat will leave you
fuller than a very lean steak. One must limit portion sizes, but fat does
create satiation better than either protein or carbs. Hence, with one's 4
ounces of moderate fat meat for lunch, a salad dressing that is high fat and
low-carb that is portion controlled will give more of a feeling of fullness
than a no-carb salad dressing to go with one's meat.
We have a friend who is not diabetic (much easier to lose weight when not
diabetic) who has lost about 70 pounds on a strict low-carb diet. I know
people who lose weight on low fat, too. However, the trick seems to be not
just getting it off, but keeping it off and that is where lifestyle changes
come in - you can't go back to eating junk.
Since I am not having luck with 1200 calories a day I am going to see if I
can cut it a bit more for the next months. Maybe 1100 calories a day. And if
that doesn't work then 1000 calories a day. At a certain point calorie deficit
has to cause weight loss - the problem is that one may eventually get to the
point of totally wigging out and just eating to eat because it is human nature
to eat.
I was fascinated by a lecture by diabetologist Richard K. Bernstein, MD, who
discussed how people with a thrifty genotype desperately crave carbohydrates
and how exposure to grains has caused them to become morbidly obese as a people
within 100 years - so that every single Pima Indian he met during his study on
diabetes and obesity was obese or morbidly obese and they were all eating grain
products constantly. Just got his lecture series for type II diabetics.
Slithy